Business-to-business e-commerce is experiencing dramatic growth. Many of these transactions take place over the Internet at a Web portal that serves as a transaction facilitator by introducing businesses to each other and facilitating the closing of deals between businesses. For example, trading exchanges and business-to-business auction sites are examples of transaction facilitators that are becoming increasingly common on the Web.
A particular problem experienced by businesses that engage in e-commerce is finding a safe and convenient method to transfer money from one business (typically a buyer of goods or services) to a second business (typically a seller of the goods or services) per the terms of a transaction. At present, very few of the online transaction facilitators offer online payment services. Those online payment services that do exist are complex and not well suited to the particular needs of business-to-business e-commerce.
Specifically, a business acts only when employees of that business perform actions on the behalf of the business. There has not heretofore been an online payment service that simply and efficiently manages the process of enabling employees of a business to execute payments on behalf that business for the purpose of consummating an online financial transaction. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an online payment service that is easy to use and suitable for the needs of business-to-business e-commerce.